Saturday, September 13, 2014

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Fall is in the air -- even here in Texas! Our first cool front of the season blew through last night, dropping temps into the breezy low 60s. Yes, that qualifies as a cool snap in Texas. Cooler weather makes my thoughts turn to fall recipes, so I decided to whip up a batch of oatmeal cookies flavored with seasonal Candy Apple M&Ms, Mott's apple sauce, and Mott's apple juice. Add some chopped dried apples and a delicious apple-cinnamon glaze, and every bite of my Candy Apple Oatmeal Cookies was bursting with the #FlavorofFall! Even better? By using a store-bought oatmeal cookie mix, my first batch of cookies was in the oven in about 20 minutes. Oatmeal cookies are Michael's favorite, so he happily ate several of these moist chocolate-studded cookies for dessert last night!My first step to making these cookies was to head to my neighborhood Walmart on behalf of #Collective Bias to gather all my ingredients. The Mott's apple sauce was located on the Canned Fruit aisle. With the first item in my cart, I headed over to the Juice aisle to pick up a container of Mott's apple juice. Both items were easy to find in a matter of minutes. Then, it was off to find the seasonal Candy Apple M&Ms.

After a bit of searching around the candy aisle, I located a convenient display of seasonal M&M flavors in a special display very near the checkout. I purchased the Candy Apple flavor M&Ms for my cookies, but I couldn't resist picking up a bag of the Candy Corn white chocolate M&Ms too. They are so good...and the festive Fall colors are really fun! You'll find lots of fun Fall-themed recipe and theme party ideas on the Flavor Of Fall tumblr page. You can also download convenient coupons for $1 off any two (2) Mott’s sauce or Mott’s juice drinks and $1.50 off any two (2) M&M’s brand chocolate candies. Both of these printable coupons will help save you money on all your Fall baking!

Mission accomplished...now, I was ready to bake! My original intention was to make a fun cookie pizza, but my finished cookie dough came out pretty wet and sticky...so changed my plans. I decided to make Candy Apple Oatmeal Cookies drizzled with an apple-cinnamon glaze instead. The end result was just what I was looking for...and my cookies received two enthusiastic thumbs up from Michael!

Candy Apple Oatmeal Cookies

a Weekend Gourmet Original

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen cookies):

17.5-ounce package oatmeal cookie mix

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped dried apples

1/2 cup Candy Apple M&Ms

1/2 stick softened butter

1/2 cup Mott's apple sauce

1 tbs. Mott's apple juice

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

For the glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Enough Mott's apple juice to make a thick glaze that can be drizzled with a spoon -- about 1 tbs.

Directions:Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Add the oatmeal cookie mix, cinnamon, dried apples, M&Ms, butter, apple sauce, apple juice, egg, and vanilla to a large bowl. Stir until well combined. NOTE: This dough is wet, so my M&Ms caused red streaks in my dough. To avoid this, I suggest adding the M&Ms to the cookie dough just before scooping.

Step 2: Scoop 12 mounds of cookie dough onto the lined baking sheet -- or use a tablespoon measure. These cookies spread quite a bit as they bake, so allow at least 2 inches between them for the prettiest shape. Push two Candy Apple M&Ms into the top of each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are golden-brown. Turn the cookie sheet halfway through baking. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. This lets them set up before you move them to a cooling rack.

Step 3: Repeat the above process for the second batch of cookies. While the cookies bakes, make the apple-cinnamon glaze by adding the glaze ingredients to a small bowl. Whisk until the powdered sugar is dissolved and a thick drizzle is formed. Set aside until the cookies are completely cool. Place the cooled cookies on a piece of parchment or foil. Using a spoon, drizzle the apple-cinnamon glaze on the cookies.

Step 4: Let the cookies set until the glaze dries -- about 30 minutes. Transfer the finished cookies to a large serving platter and get ready for an explosion of Fall flavors! Store these cookies in an air-tight container for up to 3 days -- but they likely won't last that long.

That's it! These cookies are moist and delicious -- and full of apple flavor. The trio of apple sauce, apple juice, and dried apples really works...and the Candy Apple M&Ms add a fun punch of chocolaty flavor. The M&Ms have a slight hint of apple flavor to them, which works really well in these cookies. The drizzle really takes these fun Fall cookies over the top, so I hope you'll bake up a batch very soon.